A team of scientists working for Reptile & Amphibian Ecology International (RAEI) have discovered a treasure trove of previously undiscovered biodiversity in a rare and dwindling ecosystem in Ecuador. The apparently new species include a slug-sucking snake and 30 species of rain frog.
The snake belongs to a small group of serpents that specialise in eating gastropods – snails and slugs – and the closest relative of this intriguing snake is found in Peru. Another snake, a snail-sucker, just discovered by the researchers may even be a new species. The snail-sucker was first encountered by a 15-year-old volunteer working with the scientists.
The new frogs have an extraordinary life-cycle. Instead of laying eggs in water which hatch into tadpoles, later to metamorphose into the adult form, they lay eggs in trees. The eggs then hatch out into miniature versions of the adults, some barely larger than a pinhead.
Other animals found include a gecko so small that it can perch with ample room to spare on the top of a pencil and three species of lungless salamanders.
A majority of the new species were found in Cerro Pata de Pajaro, a samall mountain just a few minutes from the Pacific Ocean and sitting right atop the Equator. Pata de Pajaro is surrounded by a type of rainforest and capped in cloud forest. The extent of cloud forest on the site is only a couple miles wide, yet houses at least 14 of the 30 new species known nowhere else on Earth.
“There is obviously a great concern that these species will disappear even before, they are formally described by science”, said expedition leader Paul Hamilton of RAEI.
Indeed, sites like Pata de Pajaro are under siege from countless ecological disturbances, from widespread deforestation for cattle grazing to timber harvesting and hunting. Climate change models actually predict that many of these mountaintop cloud forests – along with the animals that depend on them – will disappear altogether if something is not done to save them. The rain frogs just discovered are particularly susceptible to climate change since they rely on moist trees to lay their eggs which may dry up with rising temperatures.
Previous work by the scientists in the area yielded an amazing diversity of reptiles and amphibians, over 140 species in number. Incidentally, the team has found four new species of stick insect (casually known as stick bugs), just from taking photos of these fascinating creatures in the course of research.
“There are countless gaps in our knowledge of tropical animals; this study just scratches the surface of what we know about this region alone, much less what is happening to global patterns of extinction”, said Hamilton.
“The good news is, the animals are still there and alive, so there is still time to save them from extinction,” said Kerry Kriger, Executive Director of the NGO Save the Frogs.